Runaway Kentucky Teen Agrees to Be Extradited

Kentucky 18-year-old Dalton Hayes and his 13-year-old girlfriend, Cheyenne Phillips, spent two weeks on the run stealing cars and forging checks before cops arrested them in Florida Sunday. In this January 2015 photo made from surveillance video and released by the Grayson County (Ky.) Sheriff’s Office, Dalton Hayes, 18, and Cheyenne Phillips, 13, walk into a South Carolina Walmart.(Photo: AP) Three months into their relationship, two Kentucky teenagers set out on a two-week journey that saw them steal three cars, pilfer checks and evade police across at least five Southern states. Hayes called his mom from jail in Panama City Beach and told her “he was sorry and he loves me and he’s ready to come face the consequences,” Martin said.

Hayes and Phillips stole three pickup trucks during the spree — the last two, a 2006 Toyota Tacoma and then a 2001 Toyota Tundra, had guns inside, police said. It’s not clear exactly how many charges they will face, but police in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia jack and Kentucky are all weighing possible counts. Between Jan. 3 and 11, authorities believe the couple stayed in adjacent Breckinridge County, where Hayes led police on a foot chase after crashing a stolen truck, Chaffins said. Phillips’ charges will be handled in juvenile court, police said. “I want people to know that (Hayes and Phillips) are not violent individuals,” Martin said. “They did steal vehicles, but they would never actually physically harm anyone. Phillips and Hayes are believed to have made their way through North Carolina and South Carolina — where they were spotted at a Walmart and thought to have passed two stolen checks — before reaching Henry County, Ga.

In Grayson County, the two will face the same charges, including burglary, unlawful taking, criminal trespassing and criminal mischief, Chaffins said. She “would go in and write checks, and she would come out with cigarettes and stuff, so I didn’t have any reason not to believe she wasn’t 19,” Martin said. “Because normally you can’t buy cigarettes when you’re 13 years old.” When he left, Hayes was running from trouble, according to court records.